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The Superheroes of Society
Society Superheroes When I started fourth grade, I went to Reber Elementary in Vineland New Jersey. It was the fourth of five schools I attended from kindergarten to fifth grade. I remember the walk to school every morning. I’d meet my friend Ann Marie and walk with her to her Catholic school listening to her tales of her sisters and her friends at school; then I’d continue on to Reber where I knew no one. I remember arriving and standing in the cafeteria as they served breakfast counting the minutes until I could escape to the smaller quieter classroom. I didn’t have a single friend at Reber. I remember sitting in…
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What Do You Look For In A Leader?
Those that know me well know of my love for children. I enjoy being around them. Their honesty combined with their curiosity about the world brings me joy. Going from teacher to children’s book author made perfect sense for me. These beautiful young people understand more than most adults give them credit for and that’s why it upsets me when I see adults, especially those in leadership positions, setting bad examples for them. Perhaps they mistakenly believe that children aren’t watching. They are.
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Is Homework Helping or Hurting Our Children?
Is Homework Helping or Hurting Our Children? What does homework teach? There was a phrase I was taught to use as a new teacher when speaking with students. Every day I asked, “Did you do your personal best?” It was our way of trying to teach the kids to put effort into their work and not just slop something down to get it done. I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase and my early years of parenting. When my children started school, it was extremely important to me that they were enrolled in a gifted program. I suppose it was partly due to my own insecurities about my school performance as a…
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Lost in Transition
This morning I walked out my front door. It was pitch black. Imagine my surprise when I went to climb in my car and it was gone! I stood there in the dark. My mind not fully functioning on only one cup of coffee. Where was my car? I laughed when I realized the night before I had met Eric at work so we could drive to our dance lesson together. After dancing we hopped in his car, picked up dinner and drove home. Neither of us remembering that my car was still at his office. The caffeine kicked in and I saw Arielle’s truck sitting in the same spot…
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Introducing uTales and SNOW GAMES
I am very excited to introduce to you, uTales and Joanna Marple, the author of SNOW GAMES. Meeting authors and illustrators online or in person is a thrill for me. Having them guest blog and share their art makes me feel as though I’m helping to spread joy around the world. In this post Joanna Marple writes about the creative process in developing her characters for SNOW GAMES. I found it fascinating. It’s an excellent resource for teachers of young writers. While this is Mouse’s story, SNOW GAMES really does in many ways have four protagonists. This was an issue I grappled with in writing this story. I knew that I needed a…
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Pain in the Butt
It’s Sunday, post day, and I’m sitting here in pain. It’s a good pain. The kind that comes after a difficult workout at the gym. I can feel my muscles building as I type. And since Tony and I worked our legs and butt, I don’t want to get up out of this chair. There’s a saying writers use to motivate each other, butt in chair. Now, I have the perfect solution to make that happen easily. Simply spend two hours in the gym doing everything from squats to calf raises. Your butt will be quite happy to stay in the chair. Wait, shouldn’t the saying be butt on chair?…
